US plans spy drone base in north Africa

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Timbuktu was retaken after nine months in the hands of the rebelsEric Feferberg/AFP/Getty Images

Anne Barrowclough

Last updated at 2:14AM, January 29 2013

The United States is planning to establish a base for spy drones in northwest
Africa to increase surveillance on Islamist extremist groups and offer
assistance to the French-led operation in Mali.

While Washington is currently planning to fly only unarmed surveillance drones
from the base, officials told The New York Times that they have not
ruled out conducting missile strikes if the threat from al-Qaeda gets worse.

The paper reported that the most likely location would be Niger, which borders
Mali where French and government troops are battling Islamist rebels.
However the US military’s Africa Command (Africom),which is responsible